Telephone number and address annunciator.



(No Model.)

Patented Sept. 5, !899.

w. J. WALSH; TELEPHDNE NUMBER AND ADDBESS ANNUNCI ATUR.

(Application filed oe. o, 1893.

J g a L n THE noams PETERS co, moro-ume., M nmmu. o. c.

lVILLlAM JAMES XVALSH, OF IIAMILTON, CANADA.

TELEPHONE NUMBER AND ADDRESS ANNUNCIATOR.

SPECIFICATION formng part of Letters Patent No. 632,297, dated September 5, 1899. Application filed October-10,189&r Serial ne. 693,160. (No model.)

To all whom it may concerns Be it known that LWILLIAM JAMES WALSH, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Hamilton, in the county of \Ventworth, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented a certain new and useful Telephone Number and Address Annunciator; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the Construction and operation of the same.

The invention relates to a very handy, convenient, and timesaving device for use in connection with the telephone by which the names, numbers, and addresses of Subscribers can be readily and speedily found without consulting the ordinary telephone-subscribers list-book, and which my device is calculated to dispense With as too cumbersome and tedious in finding out Subscribers names and numbers.

My device will be placed near to or preferably under the telephonenvhere it Will always be in View and convenient to the eye and hand of the person about to send a telephonemessage.

The device consists in a rectangular box or case about four feet high and about six inches broad and seven or eight inches on the sides' and is provided at its upper section with a series of sheet-metal (as Zinc) diaphragns, curved about a quarter-circle. There are as many diaphragms as there are letters in the alphabet, and they are placed about a quarter of an inch apart, leaving that much space between each. In each of the said spaces between the diaphragms is placed a rbbon of paper (or equivalent material) about six inches wide, more or less, and long enough to receive a list of Subscribers names, numbers, and addresses for a certain letter of the alphabet. The bottom of each ribbon will be weighted with a weigh t-as a piece of wire with the end of the paper turned overit and glued downso as to pull the ribbon down in its place in the case after being drawn out to find a subscriber s name and number, the front being supplied with a cross-wire fastened to the ribbon and the ends extendin g over on the frame of the device to prevent it falling down in the case. Aletter of the alphabet will be printed 011 a p'ull-tag on the front of each ribbon,

which will project out in front for convenience in pulling out a ribbon for finding out the desired subscriber's number previous to telephoning.

The details of the machine will be fully shown hereinafter.

Reference being made to the accon-panying drawings, Figure l represents a front view of the device. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan of one of the ribbons detached, showing afew Subscribers names, numbers, and addresses for the letter F.

A is a box or case having an open space P at the upper portion.

O C C, the., are sheet-metal diaphragns, each one curved, as shown, and differing in size from the smallest bottom one to the largest top one. or partitions are let into the sides of the case A about'a quarter of an inch apart or otherwise attached, so as to form guides for the ribbons D,upon which the Subscribers names, numbers, and addresses are printed, each one having the names printed thereon in alphabetical orderthat is to say, each ribbon has printed thereon all Subscribers names commencing with the letter indicated on the tags e, attached to the front end of each ribbon, as shown at Fig. 3.

ffff, the., are the weights attached to the ribbons D and may eonsist of a wire with the paper bent around it and pasted down, as shown at Fig. 3. This pulls the ribbon down to the full extent in the case A, as in Fig. 2. The check-wire g, Secured to the front end of each ribbon, being long enough to extend a distance on the sides of the case, holds each ribbon in its place when at rest, as in Fig. 2.

h is a list of Subscribers names on the ribbon allotted to F on the detached rbbon, as shown at Fig. 3.

The operation of the device is as follows: When a person wishes to communicate with another through the telephone, he pulls out the ribbon on which is indicated the letter marked thereon, 'on which the subscribei s name will be placed, and finds the number wanted and then proceeds to telephone in the ordinary way. For instance, if the communicator wants to send amessage to G. Frid, he pulls out the ribbon having the capital letter The sides of these diaphragms' F printed upon the tag attaehed to that ribbon, and he soans the list of names printed thereon and finds that Gr. Frid s number is 992, as shown on the detached ribbon at Fig. As soon as he finds out the number he allows the ribbon to slide back again in the ease, Whiehit does by gravity, it being weighted at the bottom, (asthey all are,) and proceeds to speak through the telephone in the ordinary manner.

It will be observed that the tags e, containing the letters of the alphabet, are shown in the drawings as attached to the rbbons D at their Center, fo'ning a Vertical column; but for greater eonvenience they may be attach ed in other ways-such as in rows of diagonal lines running downward from right to left, or vce Versa, as desired-and it may also be further stated that the devioe can be used for other purposes than the telephone as an annunciator.

Having thus described my deviee and its advantages, What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patenta, is

In a telephone-aununciator, the 'combination of a series of eurved infiexible metallie partitions attaehed to a case, with a series of weighted fiexible sheets provided with stops and index-letters, upon which are prnted the names, numbers and addresses of telephone Subscribers, made to move back and forth between the said partitions, all constructed and combined to facilitate the finding of telephone Subscribers nanes,preparatory to telephoning, in lieu of the ordinary telephonedirectory book now in use, substautially as specified.

Dated at Hamilton,Ontario,Canada, the 4:th day of May, 1898.

VVLLIAM JAMES VVALSI-I.

In presence of- HARRY DAVILLE GODARD, \VM. BRUCE. 

